清康熙 五彩描金蝶戀花萬壽攢盤

composed of four small petal-shaped dishes encircled by eight larger petal-shaped dishes to form a single tessellated flower-head, each dish uniquely and brightly decorated on the interior with flowering and fruiting sprays and numerous butterflies, the cavetto painted in iron-red with robust leonine animals striding amidst a meandering leafy scroll divided by lotus flowers, the everted rims with gilt shou characters on a wan-diapered ground and the exterior walls with bajixiang emblems interspersed by lotus and shou characters all between double-lined borders

The small dish at the centre left (labelled 4) with the top part (brown butterfly) broken and restock. The lower part with a few stabilised/reinforced (stabilised) cracks across; one tip is chipped as seen in the illustration. A large tray at the top right (at 11 o'clock) (labelled 11) was cracked and stabilised with overpaint on the interior.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Delicately painted with butterflies hovering over fruiting brunches, complete sets of sweetmeat dishes of this type are rare and only one other closely related set appears to have been published, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 96. Another set, but lacking the iron-red scroll on the well of each dish, in the Nanjing Museum, was included in the exhibition, The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2003, cat. no. 66; and a third was sold in these rooms, 20th May 1986, lot 138. See also a pair of dishes painted with this design sold in our London rooms, 8th/9th July 1974, lot 39, and again at Christie’s London, 15th December 1980, lot 9; and a dish sold at Christie’s London, 21st March 1966, lot 110.

These dishes are filled with auspicious wishes, from the shou (longevity) characters on the rim and exterior of each dish, to the butterflies which are symbolic of blessings and happiness. Famille-verte wares decorated with motifs illustrating wishes for long life were produced in increasing numbers during the Kangxi period, especially in the latter years of his reign when the potters at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen were commissioned to produce wares for the emperor’s 60th birthday in 1713. Among the porcelains made for this occasion are the ‘birthday dishes’, which are related to the present set on account of their palette, style and rim, which is generally decorated in iron red with auspicious characters on a brocaded ground; see a dish in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2010, vol. 4, pl. 1727, sold at Christie’s London in 1977, at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2002, and sold twice in these rooms, 31st October 2004, lot 103, and 4th April 2012, lot 19. See also a related pair of birthday dishes from the Kangxi period in this sale, lot 3601.